From today, Gemini app users without a paid Google AI plan start losing two of its three models. Free personal accounts move to Gemini Flash-Lite only, according to Google’s Gemini Apps Help page. The change comes three days after Google released Nano Banana 2.1, a new image model built on Gemini 3.6 Flash.
Subscribers to AI Plus, Google’s cheapest plan, keep Flash-Lite and Flash but lose Pro. Google says they will receive an email explaining when the change applies to them. AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers keep all three models.
Earlier this year
Google released Nano Banana 2, also called Gemini 3.1 Flash Image, as a preview on 26 February. On 17 May, it moved Gemini app users over 18 to compute-based usage limits. The limits refresh every five hours until a user reaches a weekly cap. Prompt complexity, the features used and the length of a chat all count towards it.
Media generation, Deep Research, the Pro model, extended thinking and Deep Think use up the limit faster. AI Plus subscribers get twice the standard limits and AI Pro subscribers four times. AI Ultra gets five or 20 times the AI Pro limit, depending on the plan. Users under 18 moved to the new limits on 24 July.
The October changes
Google updated the help page in the first days of October, and 9to5Google reported the change on 3 October. Abner Li named the models as Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite, Gemini 3.6 Flash and Gemini 3.1 Pro.
In the US, Google’s AI plans cost $4.99 a month for AI Plus and $19.99 for AI Pro, 9to5Google reported. AI Ultra costs $99.99 or $199.99. AI Pro subscribers will also get Deep Think, a reasoning option so far limited to the Ultra plans, the site reported.
Google is also adding low, medium and high effort levels for each model. Gemini currently offers a single “extended thinking” option, 9to5Google reported. Google’s page says a higher level has a cost:
“This will increase the model’s ability to complete tasks and provide more thorough answers to queries, but will also use more of your limit.”
Google, Gemini Apps Help
Nano Banana 2.1
On 6 October, Google released Nano Banana 2.1 for image generation and editing. Its model card lists the Gemini app, Google AI Studio, the Gemini API, AI Mode in Search, Google Ads, Flow and Stitch. The same day, The Verge reported that free Gemini users could still choose Flash-Lite, Flash and Pro.
In Google’s human preference tests, Nano Banana 2.1 with thinking scored 1050 for overall preference in text-to-image. Nano Banana 2 scored 990 and Nano Banana Pro 935. Google lists known limits, including blurry small text at 1K resolution and occasional confusion between left and right.
On the Gemini API, Google’s price list puts a 1K image at $0.0336, against $0.067 for Nano Banana 2. A 4K image costs $0.113, against $0.151. Input costs $1.50 per million tokens, up from $0.50, and there is no free tier. Google’s deprecations page lists Nano Banana 2.1 as the replacement for Nano Banana 2. No shutdown date has been announced for the older model.
Google unveiled Gemini 4 Argon on 30 September. For now it is open to members of Google’s Fairwind programme for governments and trusted partners, Engadget reported. AI Ultra subscribers will get it when it reaches the public. Google has not said whether Argon will count as a Pro model or sit in a new tier, 9to5Google reported.